The government plans to increase business, trade and investment with India with a new initiative that draws on the experience of companies who have succeeded in the tough, hard-to-enter Indian market.
As a first step the government has set up a committee called ‘Break into India Strategy Committee’ comprising leaders of top Sri Lankan enterprises who have succeeded in the Indian market, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama said.
“They are helping us to distill the key lessons learnt and formulate a strategy to help Sri Lankan firms export to, and invest in, India,” he told a forum to launch ‘A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia’ report by World Bank yesterday. The World Bank report, suggested, Sri Lanka has the potential to more than double its exports to South Asia. Increased intraregional trade will provide a greater variety of goods and services at cheaper prices for Sri Lankan consumers, better access to inputs for producers and exporters, increased investment, export diversification and growth.
Talking on Sri Lanka’s initiatives to increase trade within the region, the Minister said, within South Asia we have to keep our eye on the big prize which is India. The Indian middle-class consumer market alone is forecast to soon be 10 times larger than Sri Lanka’s whole population – 200 million.
“Even if we tap into a small slice of that, it would be a game changer for our exporters.
We all know that the Indian market isn’t easy. The Government is aware of what needs to change, and on top of that list is non-tariff measures. It is also on top of our list of things we are working on in the ongoing ETCA negotiations.” Samarawickrama added the government is pushing strongly on this agenda and hoped to have some breakthroughs in the coming months. “The government is also working with the Food Safety and Standard Authority India (FSSAI) to accredit Sri Lankan labs so that the food and beverage exports to India don’t face difficulties like in the past. The Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary and Technical Barriers to Trade (SPS - TBT) established by the Ministry is now working on further measures like this.”
Sri Lanka has to see itself as a collaborator alongside the other regional economies, rather than a competitor in the narrowest sense.
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